Hi Everyone,

I just got a CL today. Being only driving for 4 yrs and only 2 cars in my life, 97 bmw 325i and 98 trd camry V6, both auto, I have no clue how or when to switch gears. All I know how to do is floor the gas and brake when i think I am going to flip soon. So I was wondering if anyone can kinda give me a brief description as to when I should be switching up or down gear, and what gears I should be at. I try not to drive fast, but being 21, in college and have friends driving M5, cobra, vettes, Z8s. I tend to go about 130 from time to time. And the first thing i noticed after picking up the cl is the brakes sucks. Well anyways, i know im asking a stupid question to all u guys that have driven stick before, but hey, i gotta learn sometime right. haha Thanks.

Paul

 

First off, you should use SS for the first 600-1000 miles. Let the car break in a little. Some will tell you theres not need to break in the car, but the way I look at it, better same then sorry. What's 1000 miles when I'll have the car for 100,000??

SS is just like a stick. You can shift it low (around 3k RPMs) or you can shift it high (around redline). Obviously the higher in the RPMs you go, the more power you get from the engine. Just keep in mind that there's a half second delay between the time you "shift" the shifter and the tranny actually shifts. So if you want to shift at 4000 RPMs, you should actually shift the SS around 3900rpm.

As for when to use SS.... whenever you want. Typically when I'm in SS I drive faster, so my gas mileage goes down, so I've been cruising in full auto most of the time. Plus, I'm in rush hour Mon - Fri, so I can't go fast anyway. You can use SS to downshift to pass cars, or for braking, say when exiting the highway, etc. It's fun during a lot of different situations. If you're going to race, you want to use SS so you can hold 3rd gear as long as possible. 4th and 5th are bascially Overdrive gears.....

Good luck with your car and welcome to the board!!

 

Ok, so lets say im going 60mph in the auto, that would be like 4th or 5th gear right? And I want to cut someone off, do I flip it to SS, drop to 3rd, and floor the gas? Is it even possible to drop 2 gears at once in the SS? Someone was saying drop to 3rd, floor it, wait till it redlines, then shift up and switch lanes to cut him off. He said try to give yourself enough room so you can stay behind him until it redlines, this way its more fun and you can cut him off faster. Thanks. Oh and What do I do when I m racing someone at the red light. Do I leave it in auto or do the shifting myself?

 

We don't cut people off on this board!

 

You can move into the SS mode at any time, so if you're cruising at 60mph in auto, you can move it over to SS, downshift to third (if you're in 5th, you'll have to downshift twice) and take off, then just shift back up through the gears. If you want to take it to redline in 3rd, go for it... more power in the higher RPMs (VTEC kicks in and second stage of the intake opens).

As for the red light racing, I'd say use SS and shift yourself. This way you can run to redline on each gear.....

 

yayaya143: First off, welcome to the board.

Second, if you're looking for ways to be what I consider to be "asshole driver" methods, you're looking in the wrong place - try maxima.org or is300.org or stang.net.

However, if you want to know what the best way for performance is, here's a few pointers.

1) SS will not ever go above the redline, regardless of what you tell it. It will not downshift to a lower gear that would redline the car.
2) You need to tell the tranny to shift about 1-200 RPMs before it actually will shift. Thank Acura for the slowness.
3) 4th and 5th, as previously stated, are useless - save for gas mileage. If you'r going 100+ and need to accelerate, move to Germany.
4) Be safe. I suggest going to an autocross (www.scca.org to find your local branch). It's a great outlet for the need for speed.

 

good for u to have cls and welcoem to the family .for me. i use ss when i want to pass the cars or go up hills.so racing with others on the street .i rarelly use ss while in normal driving condition

 

This is not quite true. If you accelerate in SS, you will hit redline at 6800 rpm, but youi can continue to fuel cutoff at 7200 rpm. I do not think you can use SS to downshift into redline area, like autoxCLS. The 'gear' indicator will flash at you if you try.

However, If you are in Auto, you will never go past redline.

Welcome to the newsgroup. Take a look at the CL FAQ, lots of good info in there for ya.

 

minor correction - redline is technically 6900 for the type s (6300 for premium) and fuel cutoff is technically 7000 (6600 for premium).

this makes it pretty tricky (with the type s) to run all the way up to redline in 2nd (ss mode) without hitting the limiter because you only have a 100 rpm band to play with, and as noted above the tranny takes a 1/2 second or so to make the shift.

fwiw, every car has a fuel cutoff that differs slightly from manufacturer's spec, so you may see a higher (or lower) number before the engine stutters on the limiter.

 

Watch out for people you cut off, some people don't play that shit and will bust a cap in your ass. Plus dad will be pissed if you wreck the new car he bought you. The trans is pretty self explanitory, if you need help look in the manual, it explains everything u need to know , w/ pictures even.

 

First, don't cut people off....

If you are doing 60 on the highway, you are in fifth gear.
While you slide the shifer to sport shift, lightly tap your brakes to get to 50, then slap the shifter down about 4-5 times then floor it. This will put you into 2nd which is much better. Then when your rpm's hit 7000, tap the shifter up so you will hit third at maximum rpm's. (at least this is how my cls responds, I hit the fuel cutoff around 7300 rpms)

 

If you're downshifting while slowing down (i.e. for a turn), make sure to do a heel-toe-style shift. That is, when you downshift, rev the engine a bit to get it to the proper RPMs for the lower gear, or you'll feel a HUGE slow-down. If you're not confortable revving the engine while you have the brakes on (and you shouldn't be too often), then just quickly take your foot off the brake and tap the gas, downshift, then continue braking.

Hope this helps!

 

Use SS as often and you can. It just might help to prevent future tranny problems!

 

Hey what's up, Here is my take on all this, being a nut.
First off I do use 4th all the time when Acclerating well way up there
5th is overdrive, I know I will get flamed for this but I take the car to 125+ pretty much on a daily basis, up until about 2 weeks ago. Just got tired of it.
When you are racing on the street or at the track go over to the auto side and use 1-2-3 if you are going from a standstill. This will enable you to get about 500 more RPMS in 1st gear as in SS it cuts you off at about 6300 RPMS in 1.
If you are on the highway and either cutting someone off or just fucking with someone, which is both acceptable. Say your doing 55, move that shit to SS and drop it down to 2nd and take off then shift at the 6750 line for max power, that will shift the tranny at about 6850-6900.

 

I find the only time i need to use SS is after I've been doing some aggressive driving. The reason:

When you've just stomped the pedal and let the car redline a couple gears, the shift computer seems to adjust itself and you will notice the car holding gears longer (kinda like what it does when it's cold out and trying to warm the car up faster).

I find this annoying when I'm driving and I let off and the car immediately slows down because it's in 4 not 5. So after I've done some aggressive driving, I flip it over to SS and force it to be up in 5th gear so I can coast easierly.

Eventually once you've driven more civilly for a few miles the tranny computer eventually goes back to the gas-conserving "shift to the highest gear possible so rpms are lowest possible" method.

So that's about the only time I really find myself using SS.

One other time is if I'm going around an on or off ramp and I want to hold it down in 2nd gear so I can get a quick burst of speed as soon as I'm exiting the turn instead of depressing the pedal and waiting for the tranny to shift down a gear or two.

 

I have been using SS 99.5% of the time now. I like it alot, only thing is I dunno if im killing the engine or not by keeping the rpm over 4-5k all the time.